Effect of Number of Shutdown on the Decrease of Performance in PEM Water Electrolysis

- In the case of driving water electrolysis by receiving surplus electricity from solar and wind power generation, operation and stopping must be repeated according to weather fluctuations. When the PEMWE(Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Water Electrolysis) is driven and stopped, the PEM fuel cell is in the same state as the PEM fuel cell due to the residual hydrogen and oxygen, and the high potential of the water electrolysis formed during operation is highly likely to cause degradation of the electrode and membrane even during stopping. In this study, in order to check how much degradation of the electrode and membrane progresses during the repeated driving/shutdown process of PEM water electrolysis, the performance decrease was measured by changing the number of driving/shutdown for 144 hours. Changes in electrode catalyst active area, hydrogen permeability and fluorine emision rate of membranes were analyzed to measure changes in the properties of electrodes and polymer membranes. Overall, the PEMWE performance decreased as the hydrogen permeability increased by 80%, confirming that both the electrode and the membrane were deteriorated.